With the Chamber Jazz Sextet, composer, leader and conductor Allyn Ferguson set out to do what he saw was going to be inevitable the bringing together of jazz and classical disciplines.

The Chamber Jazz Sextet hopes to catalyze this inevitable fusion of jazz and classical attitudes, he said. Toward this end, the members of the group, both individually and collectively, are making use of their every available musical knowledge in attempting to render music both meaningful and legitimate for the listener.

The results he achieved with this multi-instrumental group, in both the first half, where the focus is primarily on the sextet, and in the second, where it functions in an essentially accompanying role to poet Kenneth Patchens interpretations, are provocative, stimulating and rewarding. The group is well knit, with strong soloists and provided one of the most fascinating attempts of its kind to combine two musical worlds without compromising the inherent values and virtues of each.

Tracklisting:

01. Perplexity 02. What Is This Thing Called Love? 03. Borderland - Sextet For Contemporaries 04. 1st Movement Adagio-Moderato 05. 2nd Movement Lento 06. 3rd Movement Vivace 07. In The Still Of The Night 08. Brand X 09. Surrey With The Fringe On Top 10. Canons For Funkies 11. Blue Winds 12. Fantasia On Little Girl Blue 13. The Murder Of Two Men By A Young Kid Wearing Lemon-Colored Gloves 14. The State Of The Nation 15. Do The Dead Know What Time It Is? 16. And With The Sorrows Of This Joyousness 17. The Lute In The Atic 18. Lonesome Boy Blues 19. Limericks 20. I Went To The City

Tracks #1-12 orignally issued as "The Chamber Jazz Sextet" (Cadence 12" LP CLP-1020). Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, on February 26 & March 4, 1957.

Tracks #13-20 orignally issued as "Kenneth Pratchen reads his poetry with the Chamber Jazz sextet" (Cadence 12" LP CLP-3004). Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, on December 27 & 31, 1957.

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Notes:

"Late '50s intriguing West Coast cool jazz group that blended standards, originals and reworked numbers in concise, colorful, and swinging style with occasionally unusual instrumentation such as bassoon and bass clarinet."